First Presbyterian Church of Kilgore, Texas has announced the third annual East Texas Pipe Organ Festival honoring the life and work of Roy Perry (1906–1978). This year’s festival will take place November 10–14, and will feature five landmark Aeolian-Skinner pipe organs in the East Texas area designed and tonally finished by Perry and installed by the Williams Family of New Orleans. As Perry wrote in a 1952 promotional brochure, “None of these organs is extreme in any direction. They are alike only by way of family resemblance, but each in its way is a work of art. They provide a generous education in contemporary organ building, and are happily concentrated in a small geographical area.”
This year’s guest recitalists will include Joby Bell, Charles Callahan, Ken Cowan, Isabelle Demers, Nathan Laube, Lorenz Maycher, Jason Roberts, Tom Trenney, Thomas Trotter, Brett Valliant, and Bradley Welch. In addition to five organ recitals on Roy Perry’s masterpiece at First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, there will be two full-length recitals on the 1959 Aeolian-Skinner at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Shreveport, Louisiana. Other highlights of the festival will include special concerts, presentations, and exhibits honoring the life and career of concert organist William Teague and the world premiere performance of a newly commissioned work for organ solo by Charles Callahan.
For more information, visit www.EastTexasPipeOrganFestival.com or contact Lorenz Maycher at [email protected] or by mail at East Texas Pipe Organ Festival, P.O. Box 2069, Kilgore, TX 75663. On Facebook: East Texas Pipe Organ Festival.
